FCTA warns landlords against abuse of land use

The FCT Minister, Malam Muhammad Musa Bello, has charged landlords in the Federal Capital Territory to strictly ensure that their buildings are used only for the purposes they are designed in the Abuja Master Plan. The minister gave the charge when the Nyanya (Phase I) Landlords Association, Abuja visited him. He said the call became […]

The FCT Minister, Malam Muhammad Musa Bello, has charged landlords in the Federal Capital Territory to strictly ensure that their buildings are used only for the purposes they are designed in the Abuja Master Plan.
The minister gave the charge when the Nyanya (Phase I) Landlords Association, Abuja visited him.
He said the call became necessary   because  some of the landlords were converting residential properties into nightclubs, brothels and worship centres, against the purposes for which they were designed and approved by the FCT Development Control Department.
Malam Bello stressed that as community leaders, the landlords had a duty to insist that anybody staying in any of their properties subscribed to basic minimum standards of behaviour agreed between them and the tenants.
The minister who explained that districts and communities in the FCT were specifically designed to have areas for schools, commercial activities, residences and hospitals, regretted that some landlords allowed for mixed use, which he reiterated had led to breakdown of law and order in the community.
“Not only in Nyanya but in all communities of the FCT, it is very important that community based associations like yours also partner with us to make sure that we bring welfare and a very conducive living environment for the people,”he  said.
While making clarifications on the FCTA’s recent decision to shut substandard schools within the territory, Malam Bello said some of the schools operated in deplorable conditions that were not conducive for learning.
“We were trying to close so many schools because most of them are not schools. There was an area where a school was located inside a brothel. You will see small children studying in the school and just by the side, you see people moving half naked. How can they learn in that kind of environment?” he said.
In his address, the chairman, Nyanya (Phase I) Landlords Association, Abuja, Alhaji Mamman Jimoh Lawal, thanked  the minister for the prompt manner with which he was handling the problems of their communities assuring him of  the association`s willingness to partner with the FCTA to solve the problem of underdevelopment across the FCT.